The Call of Gold (1936) by Newell D. Chamberlain

CHAPTER XXVIII
FREMONT’S LATER CAREER

Through the formation of the Wall Street corporation, Fremont realized at least two million dollars. Had the Company not
been wrecked within such a short time, he would have made even
more.

After the Civil War, he devoted his time and fortune to the
promotion of overland transportation. He laid the foundation of
the Kansas and Pacific Railroad, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad,
and the Memphis and Pacific Railroad, in the last of which,
through the misconduct of French agents in Paris, his fortune
was really lost.

While promoting railroads, he and his family lived luxuriously.
He had been so greatly benefited by the stock-selling scheme of
the Mariposa Company that he thought he could be successful in
promoting stock to build railroads. Being only a visionary dreamer, however, with no practical experience in corporate financing,
he became an easy mark for shrewd schemers.

His Memphis and El Paso Railroad had been chartered by the
State of Texas and given 18,000,000 acres of land, on the
strength of which, bonds were floated. Several millions of dollars
worth of these bonds were sold in France, but the agents and
banking house kept forty per cent, leaving but sixty per cent for
the building of the proposed railroad.

In 1870, the Company became insolvent and Fremont and
many of his friends lost everything, to say nothing of the losses
sustained by thousands who had purchased stock on the glittering
representations of agents. Fremont’s inside knowledge as to the
condition of the Company gave him advance information of the
impending failure and he could have used that knowledge to save
a part of his fortune, had he been dishonest.

The following article appeared in the Mariposa Gazette of
April 17, 1874:

“Fremont’s brother-in-law, Baron Boileau, who was sentenced
to imprisonment by a Memphis and El Paso R. R. affair, is confined in the conciergerie in Paris. Mme. Boileau and her six
children were at last accounts at Boulogne, dependent on the
generosity of friends.

“Nine or ten years ago, Baron Boileau was the French consul
at New York City, trusted, respected, popular and accomplished.
While there, he married Susan, daughter of Colonel Thomas H.
Benton, who served thirty years in the United States Senate and
who was long the political autocrat of Missouri. The marriage
was happy. After his union with Miss Benton, Baron Boileau was
appointed French minister to Ecuador, but certain acts of his
while Consul at New York were brought to the notice of the
government and led to his recall from Ecuador and his discharge
from his country’s service.

“While in New York, he became involved in railroad schemes
and was induced to recommend, in his capacity as an official
agent of the French government, the negotiation of the Memphis
and El Paso Railroad bonds. It was for this plain violation of the
country’s law, that his government, rigid in such matters, recalled, discharged, fined, imprisoned, in short, ruined him.

“The same Court, which tried him, found General Fremont
guilty of raising money on the Memphis and El Paso R. R. bonds,
by false representations and sentenced him to serve a year in
prison. He made good his escape from France and is beyond the
reach of the French Government, it being a strange fact, that
although France and America upheld a common cause and fought
side by side on fields of battle, they have with each other no extradition treaty.

“Mrs. Fremont was the favorite daughter of Colonel Benton,
a woman of rare accomplishments and great ambition. Her hopes
have withered; she beholds, as the result of an unfortunate speculation, her husband, who once almost grasped the highest prize
in this country’s gift, declared a felon by a friendly Republic and
the devoted companion of her sister, hurled from a high pinnacle
into ruin and disgrace. How marvelous and melancholy are some
of time’s mutations?”

It was later proven that Fremont was not guilty of misrepresentation in the sale of bonds in France. That he acted with absolute honesty but with a lamentable shortness of business judgment, was proven by a letter sent him by the unfriendly Receiver
of the defunct company, which read as follows: “I deem it fair
that throughout the long and careful scrutiny which I have made
into the affairs of the company, I have found no proof that
would sustain the charges brought against you, regarding the
fraudulent sale of the company’s bonds in France.”

Fremont had proven a dismal failure as a business man and had
wrecked many of his friends and relatives.

In 1878, he was appointed Governor of Arizona Territory, by President Hayes, and served four years, at a salary of
$2000 a year. On his way out to assume his duties, he visited
San Francisco and was given a reception by the Society of California Pioneers.

Early in 1890, in view of his services to his country, as explorer, administrator and soldier, Congress restored him to the
rank of Major-General, and then placed him on the retired list, at
a salary of $6000 a year. This was the first time for many years
that he could enjoy a comfortable income.

On May 9th, he went to the Treasury Department to ask that
his salary be not retained to meet a supposed old debt, when he
was informed that the Government actually owed him $21,000
and that a clerical error forty years previous had been responsible
for making it appear that he was indebted to the Government for
$19,000. When he received the news, he fainted, but soon revived as he was handed a warrant for the amount due.
He did not live very long to enjoy his new competency, for on
July 13th, he passed away, at the home of his adopted daughter
in New York City. The high distinction of being “Major-General,
U. S. A.” was cut on his tombstone and it will be recalled that
the same title appeared after his name on the deed when he signed
away his Mariposa Estate for a consideration of over six millions
of dollars.

The Nation will always be indebted to him for his important
part in the opening up of the far western country, comprising half
a continent. During the years, 1842 to 1847, with the famous Kit
Carson, as guide, he made three expeditions through the then almost unknown regions between the Missouri River and the Pacific
Ocean, in which, his daring and fortitude, amid unfriendly savages, through hazardous mountain wilds and inhospitable deserts,
have seldom been surpassed.

He has been appropriately termed the “West’s Greatest Pathfinder”. Undoubtedly, he did more to open up the far western
country than any other man and his detailed and accurate descriptions of that vast region helped to save many lives during the
first great overland gold rush. In addition, his promptness, combined with his energy and patriotism, and that of his followers,
saved California from becoming a British possession. English
Admiral Seymour afterwards declared that if he had arrrived with
his fleet a few days sooner at Monterey, the flag of England would
have floated over California, all in accordance with a plan arranged by British Consul Forbes and Emissary Priest Macnamara.

For his services, in geographic and scientific discovery, he was
recognized and rewarded by the Royal Geographic Societies of
both London and Berlin. In 1861, he was chosen by the King of
Prussia to be a Knight of the Society of Merit, to fill a vacancy
caused by the death of Macauley. Another noteworthy distinction,
which he prized, was the friendship of Baron von Humboldt, the
great German geographer and explorer, who founded the modern
science of physical geography.

Major-General Fremont should have been one of the wealthiest
men in the United States. His patent to the vast Mariposa Estate,
rich in mineral wealth, made him several times a millionaire, but
he lacked the business ability to keep his money. He was a dreamer and his philosophy of life is best expressed in a letter which he
once wrote to his wife; “There are two Gods which are very dear
to me, Hope and Sleep. Both make the time pass lightly.” He was
successful in some things, but a failure in other things. He tried
to play too many parts, yet the God of Hope always cheered him